Lake Nipigon

In the Jesuit Relations (the chronicles of the Jesuit missions in New France) the lake is called lac Alimibeg, and was subsequently known as Alemipigon or Alepigon. In the 19th century it was frequently spelled as Lake Nepigon. This may have originated from the Ojibwe word Animbiigoong, meaning 'at continuous water' or 'at waters that extend [over the horizon].' Though some sources claim the name may also be translated as 'deep, clear water,' this description is for Lake Temagami. Today, the Ojibwe bands call Lake Nipigon Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan.

The 1778 Il Paese de' Selvaggi Outauacesi, e Kilistinesi Intorno al Lago Superiore map by John Mitchell identifies the lake as Lago Nepigon and its outlet as F. Nempissaki. In the 1807 map A New Map of Upper & Lower Canada by John Cary, the lake was called Lake St. Ann or Winnimpig, while the out flowing river as Red Stone R. Today, the Red Rock Indian Band located along the Nipigon River still bears the "Red Stone" name. In the 1827 map Partie de la Nouvelle Bretagne. by Philippe Vandermaelen, the lake was called L. St. Anne, while the out flowing river as R. Nipigeon. In the 1832 map North America sheet IV. Lake Superior. by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the lake was called S^t Ann or Red L., while the out flowing river as Neepigeon and the heights near the outlet of the Gull River as Neepigon Ho. By 1883, maps such as Statistical & General Map of Canada by Letts, Son & Co., consistently began identify the lake as Lake Nipigon.

File:88.43153W 49.95886N Nipigon Lake.png

Lying {{Convert|260|m}} above sea level, the lake drains into the Nipigon River and thence into Nipigon Bay of Lake Superior. The lake and river are the largest tributaries of Lake Superior. It lies about {{Convert|120|km}} northeast of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario.{{cite web|url=http://agora.lakeheadu.ca/agora.php?st=60 |title=Lake Nipigon Region Geoscience Initiative |access-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724013916/http://agora.lakeheadu.ca/agora.php?st=60 |archive-date=24 July 2012}}

Lake Nipigon has a total area (including islands within the lake) of {{Convert|4848|km2}}, compared to {{Convert|3150|km2}} for Lake of the Woods. It is the 32nd largest lake in the world by area. The largest islands are Caribou Island, Geikie Island, Katatota Island, Kelvin Island, Logan Island, Murchison Island, Murray Island, and Shakespeare Island. Maximum depth is {{Convert|165|m}}.

Its original watershed area is {{Convert|9484|mi2|order=flip}}. This was increased by about 60% to {{Convert|{{sum|24560|14360}}|km2}} after {{Convert|5545|mi2|order=flip}} of the Ogoki River basin were diverted in 1943 to the headwaters of the Little Jackfish River, a tributary of Lake Nipigon.{{cite book |author1=United States Great Lakes Basin Commission |title=Great Lakes Basin Commission Framework Study |volume=11-14 |date=1976 |publisher=Public Information Office, Great Lakes Basin Commission |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCRIAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22nipigon+river%22+discharge&pg=PA47

|access-date=12 October 2021}}

File:North america basement rocks.png showing (in beige) the Midcontinent Rift, here labelled Keweenawan Rift.]]

Lake Nipigon occupies a basin created by repeated and preferential erosion of relatively flat-lying and faulted, Proterozoic sedimentary strata and igneous sills by repeated Pleistocene glaciations. The Sibley Group consists of about {{cvt|950|m}} of unmetamorphosed Mesoproterozoic red beds that are typically flat-lying. These red beds consist of basal fluvial-lacustrine conglomerates, sandstones, and shales overlain by cyclic dolomite-siltstone layers, stromatolites and red mudstones, which represent a playa lake, sabkha, and mudflat environments; purple shales and siltstones interpreted as subaerial mudflat deposits; and an upper unit of cross-stratified sandstone beds, which are interpreted to be aeolian in origin. They accumulated in an intracratonic rift basin between 1450 and 1500 million years (Ma) ago.Rogala, B., 2003. The Sibley Group: a lithostratigraphic, geochemical and paleomagnetic study. Unpublished MSc thesis, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, 254 pp.Rogala, B., Fralick, P.W., Heaman, L.M. and Metsaranta, R., 2007. Lithostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy of the Mesoproterozoic Sibley Group, northwestern Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 44, pp. 1131–1149.

The Sibley Group unconformably overlies highly deformed and metamorphosed Archean turbiditic sandstones and metavolcanic and granitic rocks. The strata of the Sibley Group fill and are limited to a rift basin known as the Nipigon Embayment that underlies Lake Nipigon. Outside of the rift basin and east and west of Lake Nipigon, the Sibley Group is absent and erosion resistant Archean rocks are either exposed at the surface or blanketed by Pleistocene glacial sediments.Hart, T.R. and MacDonald, C.A., 2007. Proterozoic and Archean geology of the Nipigon Embayment: implications for emplacement of the Mesoproterozoic Nipigon diabase sills and mafic to ultramafic intrusions. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 44(8), pp.1021-1040.

The Archean and Proterozoic strata are intruded by a number of mafic and ultramafic intrusions, which define the current outline of the Nipigon Embayment. They consist of relatively flat-lying and undeformed diabase sills known as the Nipigon diabase sills. These sills range in thickness from a few meters to {{Convert|150|m}} thick in cliff sections to more than {{Convert|250|m}} thick in drill core. They are estimated to cover an area in excess of {{Convert|20000|km2}}. The Nipigon diabase sills give evidence of rift-related continental basaltic magmatism during the Midcontinent Rift System event, estimated at 1,109 Ma ago. Thick sills up to {{Convert|150|to(-)|200|m}} thick are also related with the rifting event, forming cliffs that are up to {{Convert|150|to(-)|200|m}} high. The mafic and ultramafic intrusions in and around the Nipigon Embayment have widely been interpreted to represent a failed arm of the Midcontinent Rift System, although the lack of dike intrusions, compared to the relative abundance of flat, saucer-shaped sills in the embayment, has led some researchers to question the dominant failed rift arm model.Sutcliffe, R.H., 1991. Proterozoic Geology of the Lake Superior Area, In P.C. Thurston, H.R. Williams, R.H. Sutcliffe, and G.M. Stott (eds.). Geology of Ontario, Ontario Geological Survey, Special Publication 4 (1), pp. 627-658.Davis, D.W. and Sutcliffe, R.H., 1985. U-Pb ages from the Nipigon plate and northern Lake Superior. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 96(12), pp.1572-1579.

The Proterozoic rocks that underlie the Lake Nipigon region contain a variety of mineral resources. Although economic deposits have yet to be found, 1.53 billion-year-old anorogenic granites within the Lake Nipigon area potentially contain yttrium, zirconium, rare-earth elements and tin mineralization. The clastic sedimentary rocks of the Sibley Group, are host to unconformity-related uranium and red beds-type copper ore deposits.Thurston, P.C., Williams, H.R., Sutcliffe, R.H. and Stott, G.M., 1991. Geology of Ontario. Ontario Geological Survey Special Publication, 4(Part 1), 711 p

As the last ice age was ending, Lake Nipigon was, at times, part of the drainage path for Lake Agassiz.{{cite journal | last = Leverington | first = DW |author2=Teller JT | title = Paleotopographic reconstructions of the eastern outlets of glacial Lake Agassiz |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume = 40 | issue = 9 | pages = 1259–78 | year = 2003 | doi = 10.1139/e03-043| bibcode = 2003CaJES..40.1259L | citeseerx = 10.1.1.468.8518 }}

Claude-Jean Allouez, a French Jesuit missionary celebrated the first Mass beside the Nipigon River 29 May 1667.{{Cite web|title=Mission to the Nipissings 1667|url=https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/mission-to-the-nipissings-1667|access-date=7 July 2021|website=Read the Plaque}}{{Cite web|title=The Visit of Father Allouez to Lake Nipigon in 1667|url=http://www.cchahistory.ca/journal/CCHA1956/Nelligan.pdf|access-date=7 July 2021|website=cchahistory}} He visited the village of the Nipissing Indians who had fled there during the Iroquois onslaught of 1649-50.

In 1683, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a fur trading post on Lake Nipigon named Fort la Tourette after his brother, Claude Greysolon, Sieur de la Tourette. The Alexis Hubert Jaillot map of 1685 (Partie de la Nouvelle-France)Partie de la Nouvelle France {{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2105367993 |title=Partie de la Nouvelle France (Hubert Jaillot 1685) | Flickr |date=12 December 2007 |access-date=19 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120113129/https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2105367993 |archive-date=20 January 2017 }}; also, {{cite web |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b67000664 |title=Partie de la Nouvelle France / Par Hubert Jaillot |access-date=19 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421132448/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b67000664 |archive-date=21 April 2012 }} suggests that this fort was somewhere in Ombabika Bay at the northeast end of the lake where the Ombabika River and Little Jackfish River (Kabasakkandagaming) empty. This post, like most of the western French posts, was closed in 1696 by order of the king, when, due to a surplus of beaver pelts, the system of trading permits established in 1681 was abolished.Nive Voisine, «Robutel de la Noue, Zacharie» Dictionnaire de biographie canadienne, v. 2 (1701-1740); Gratien Allaire, «Les engagements pour la traite des fourrures : évaluation de la documentation,» Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 34 (juin 1980), 9-10.

On 17 April 1744, the Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, Minister of the Marine, informed the Canadian officials that Jean de La Porte was to be given the "fur ferme" (i.e. the profits) of Lac Alemipigon from that year forward as a reward for his services in New France.

After the Treaty of Paris (1763), the area passed into the hands of the British, and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) expanded its trading area to include the Lake, to compete with the North West Company, who were already operating there. In 1784 and 1790, the HBC sent representatives to survey the lake, and set up their first trading post in 1792 on the north-east side. Around 1821, the HBC replaced the original post with a second one in the northwest, called Wabinosh House. It was nearly abandoned due to strife and murders between local indigenous groups. Once the dispute was resolved however, the post remained open.{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company: Nipigon House |url=https://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PAM_AUTHORITY/AUTH_DESC_DET_REP/SISN%20524?sessionsearch |website=pam.minisisinc.com |publisher=Archives of Manitoba - Keystone Archives Descriptive Database |access-date=29 February 2024}}

Although it was considered to be within British North America, it was not until 1850 that the watershed draining into Lake Superior was ceded formally by the Ojibwe Indians to the Province of Canada in the Robinson Treaty of 1850, also known as the Robinson Superior Treaty. A reserve, {{cvt|4|mi2|order=flip}} in area, called Gull River 55, was set aside on Gull River near Lake Nipigon on both sides of the river for the Chief Mishe-muckqua (from Mishi-makwa, "Great Bear"). That same year, the HBC moved its trading post there from Wabinosh Bay. The post, known as Nipigon or Fort Nipigon, was headquarters of the Nipigon District from 1881 to 1892. In 1900, the post was renamed to Nipigon House, and renamed again in 1954 to Gull Bay.

{{Wide image|HBC - Nipigon House 1880s.jpg|800px|HBC trading post Nipigon House on Lake Nipigon, 1880s|center}}

In 1871 Lake Nipigon was included in the new Thunder Bay District.

The Township of Nipigon was incorporated in 1908. The Municipality of Greenstone (pop 5662) was incorporated in 2001 and includes Orient Bay, MacDiarmid, Beardmore, Nakina, Longlac, Caramat, Jellicoe and Geraldton.

In 1943, Canada and the United States agreed to the Ogoki diversion which diverts water into Lake Superior that would normally flow into James Bay and thence into Hudson Bay. The diversion connects the upper portion of the Ogoki River to Lake Nipigon. This water was diverted to boost the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations at Niagara Falls.{{cite book |last1=Annin |first1=Peter |title=The Great Lakes water wars |date=2009 |publisher=Island Press |location=Washington |isbn=9781597266376 |edition=1st Island Press pbk. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3vgzhwmmmw4C |access-date=12 October 2021}} The diversion is governed by the International Lake Superior Board of Control which was established in 1914 by the International Joint Commission.

The First Nations population (primarily Ojibwe) include the band governments of Animbiigoo Zaagi'igan Anishinaabek (Lake Nipigon Ojibway) First Nation, the Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (formerly known as Rocky Bay First Nation), the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (formerly known as Sand Point First Nation), the Red Rock Indian Band (also known as Lake Helen Reserve) and the Gull Bay First Nation. Formerly, the Whitesand First Nation was also located along the northwestern shores of Lake Nipigon until they were relocated in 1942. The membership of these six First Nations total about 5,000. Additionally along Lake Nipigon, there are three Indian reserves : McIntyre Bay IR 54 (Rocky Bay First Nation), Jackfish Island IR 57 and Red Rock (Parmachene) IR 53 (Red Rock First Nation).

The first nations CBC TV series Spirit Bay was filmed on the lake at the Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek Reserve in the mid-1980s.

The main line of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) runs to the north of the lake. Another branch of the CNR touches the southeastern section of the lake at Orient Bay and Macdiarmid before heading inland to Beardmore. Ontario Highway 11 also skirts the southeastern section of the lake.{{cite web|url=http://www.cn.ca/|title=CN - Transportation Services - Rail Shipping, Intermodal, trucking, warehousing and international transportation|website=www.cn.ca|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422030725/https://www.cn.ca/|archive-date=22 April 2018}}

Water travel between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior is impossible because of the existence of three dams that effectively hinders navigation, however portage trails are accessible.{{cite web|url=https://northernontario.travel/superior-country/9-lake-nipigon-facts |title=Lake Nipigon, 6. It has Three Hydroelectric Dams |access-date=2 January 2025}}

Ontario Parks has designated the area as the Lake Nipigon Basin Signature Site, because of its remarkable range of natural and recreational values. The site includes many provincial parks, conservation reserves, and enhanced management areas around the lake and within its watershed.{{cite web |title=Lake Nipigon Basin Signature Site Park Management Parent Plan for Lake Nipigon, Kabitotikwia River, Livingstone Point, West Bay and Windigo Bay provincial parks |url=https://www.ontario.ca/page/lake-nipigon-basin-signature-site-park-management-parent-plan-lake-nipigon-kabitotikwia-river |publisher=Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources |access-date=1 March 2024 |date=2003 }}

Protected areas on or at Lake Nipigon include:

• Lake Nipigon Provincial Park - located on the east side of Lake Nipigon. In 1999, the park boundary was amended to reduce the park area from {{Cvt|14.58|to|9.18|km2}}. The area removed from the park was deregulated and transferred to the Government of Canada for a reserve for the Sand Point First Nation.
• Lake Nipigon Conservation Reserve - {{Cvt|176660|ha}} reserve, created in 2003, that includes all Crown islands and most of the shoreline of Lake Nipigon.{{cite web |title=Policy Report C2247: LAKE NIPIGON CONSERVATION RESERVE |url=https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/services/CLUPA/xmlReader.aspx?xsl=web-primary.xsl&type=primary&POLICY_IDENT=C2247 |publisher=Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario |access-date=29 February 2024 |work=Crown Land Use Policy Atlas |date=10 July 2006}}
• Black Sturgeon River Provincial Park - includes the southern-most end of Black Sturgeon Bay of Lake Nipigon.{{cite web |title=Black Sturgeon River Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/blacksturgeonriver |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}
• Kabitotikwia River Provincial Park - {{Cvt|1965|ha}} nature reserve at Gull Bay, created in 1985, protecting the wetlands at the mouth of the Kabitotikwia River.{{cite web |title=Kabitotikwia River Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/kabitotikwiariver |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}
• Kopka River Provincial Park - includes the entire shore of and the islands in Wabinosh Bay, on the lake's western shore.{{cite web |title=Kopka River Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/kopkariver |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}
• Livingstone Point Provincial Park - {{Cvt|1800|ha}} nature reserve, created in 1985, protecting regionally rare arctic and alpine plants on a peninsula off the lake's eastern shore.{{cite web |title=Livingstone Point Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/livingstonepoint |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}
• West Bay Provincial Park - {{Cvt|1120|ha}} nature reserve, created in 1985, protecting geological features on the north shore of the namesake bay.{{cite web |title=West Bay Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/westbay |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}
• Windigo Bay Provincial Park - {{Cvt|8378|ha}} nature reserve, created in 1989, protecting a migration corridor and wintering sites for woodland caribou on the north shore of the lake, west of the namesake bay.{{cite web |title=Windigo Bay Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/windigobay |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=29 February 2024}}

Other protected areas within the lake's basin:

• Garden Pakashkan Conservation Reserve - includes the Mooseland River (a tributary of the Gull River), its headwaters, Garden Lake, and Mooseland Lake. The {{Cvt|12586|ha}} reserve, established in 2004, protects extremely rugged terrain and canyons in a remote area.{{cite web |title=Policy Report C2410: Garden Pakashkan Conservation Reserve |url=https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/services/CLUPA/xmlReader.aspx?xsl=web-primary.xsl&type=primary&POLICY_IDENT=C2410 |publisher=Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario |access-date=4 March 2024 |work=Crown Land Use Policy Atlas |date=31 January 2006}} The headwaters of the Brightsand River are part of the reserve.
• Gull River Provincial Park - protecting the Gull River, a tributary to Lake Nipigon.
• Obonga–Ottertooth Provincial Park - {{Cvt|21157|ha}} waterway park that includes a system of lakes and rivers from Obonga Lake in the east to Kashishibog Lake in the west.{{cite web |title=Obonga-Ottertooth Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/obongaottertooth |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=4 March 2024}}
• Kaiashk Provincial Park - {{cvt|780|ha}} nature reserve, established in 1989, protecting post-glacial features such as a kame knoll, outwash plain, and troughs.{{cite web |title=Kaiashk Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/kaiashk |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=4 March 2024}}
• Nipigon Palisades Conservation Reserve - {{Cvt|11588.8|ha}} reserve, established in 2003, protecting a prominent geological canyon / ravine and tablelands. It also includes a major moose migration corridor (Cash Creek).{{cite web |title=Policy Report C2238: Nipigon Palisades Conservation Reserve |url=https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/services/CLUPA/xmlReader.aspx?xsl=web-primary.xsl&type=primary&POLICY_IDENT=C2238 |publisher=Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario |access-date=4 March 2024 |work=Crown Land Use Policy Atlas |date=2 March 2009}}
• Ottertooth Conservation Reserve - {{Cvt|28793|ha}} reserve, established in 2003, protecting provincially-significant and unique geological features related to a spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz.{{cite web |title=Policy Report C2262: Ottertooth Conservation Reserve |url=https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/services/CLUPA/xmlReader.aspx?xsl=web-primary.xsl&type=primary&POLICY_IDENT=C2262 |publisher=Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario |access-date=4 March 2024 |work=Crown Land Use Policy Atlas |date=31 January 2006}}
• Pantagruel Creek Provincial Park - {{Cvt|2685|ha}} nature reserve, established in 1989, protecting Pantagruel Creek that formed part of the spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz.{{cite web |title=Pantagruel Creek Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/pantagruelcreek |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=4 March 2024}}
• Whitesand Provincial Park - {{Cvt|11337|ha}} waterway park, established in 2003, includes a system of lakes and rivers that links Wabakimi Provincial Park, Windigo Bay Provincial Park, and Lake Nipigon.{{cite web |title=Whitesand Provincial Park |url=https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/whitesand |website=www.ontarioparks.com |publisher=Ontario Parks |access-date=4 March 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://ijc.org/en/lsbc International Lake Superior Board of Control]

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Nipigon, Lake

Category:Hudson's Bay Company trading posts